ABOUT RIFKIN FARMS

Hal Rifkin of Rifkin Farms, Manalapan, farms the same land his father purchased in 1944 on Smithburg Road (Route 527), near the Millstone Township border. Rifkin started his farming career collecting eggs at the age of 5, when the land was home to chickens. In a conversation this week, the farmer said he’s seen a great many changes since the 1960s when he started farming.

....Rifkin, who operates the 65-acre farm, products being what they are — tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, broccoli and peppers, to name a few — are foods that need to be prepared when they’re taken home.

"We're picking corn and the squash all every year, and the tomatoes too. The peppers and the tomatoes and the eggplants and the cantaloupes and watermelons come later in July, around the fifteenth.